I Witnessed A Theft, and I’m A Monster

Photo: Felipe Paes

I witnessed a theft on Sunday.

In the self-checkout line of the grocery store, the man in front of me scanned his $35-worth of items and then walked out without paying, while the attendant was working with someone else.

I asked the attendant if that happened often, and she said it did, if you’re not paying attention. “I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I’d stolen my groceries,” she said, before adding some comment about the sad state of the world.

“Yep,” I agreed, “that’s just the way the world is. We’re all corrupt in some way. We gotta work it out. We need Jesus.”

She didn’t respond to that.

But why exactly did I say that? I said it because I noticed she’d compared herself to the thief, and seemingly evaluated herself as better than him—at least as it pertains to theft. Well, at least as it pertains to theft of groceries. I supposed that underneath her comment may be an all-too-common delusion: self-righteousness.

Here’s why that’s a delusion, followed by why I fancied it my business to say something to her about it.

Why It’s A Delusion

Solomon writes, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Paul quotes the Psalms when he agrees, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10–11). Jesus Himself says flatly, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18).

So, kings, prophets, apostles, and the Lord Himself agree: all of us are messed up in the morals.

Regardless of how you’ve sinned, you have sinned—and all sin is damnable. As James writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). Regardless of the specifics, if you break the law, you’re a lawbreaker. Regardless of how bad any particular sin is, each of them are bad enough to earn the sinner hell forever. Even the smallest sin is way worse than we imagine.

Think of it this way. What are the worst sins a person could commit? Who are the worst, most evil people in the world? If you’re like me, you probably think of rapists, murderers, sex traffickers, and terrorists. These are the people we commonly call “monsters.”

And fair enough. Their evil deeds are monstrous, without question, and so we can rightly call them monsters.

But think about it one level deeper. What causes someone to rape? Often, it’s a desire to dominate, to exert control over someone else. Why do people murder? It’s because they have given themselves, even for a brief moment, to hate. Why do people traffic others for sex? It’s because of greed, lust, and objectification of other humans. Why do people commit terrorism? It’s because they have been deceived into believing an evil ideology, thinking good is evil and evil is good.

Now, have you ever been overly controlling of someone else? Have you ever hated someone, or even imagined killing them? Have you ever been greedy, or lusted, or treated someone more as a means to an end than as a person with inherent value? Have you ever done something you believed was good that you later realized was bad?

If you can answer yes to any of these, you have committed the same sins as the most evil people, just in different ways. Even entertaining a desire to do these things is sinful. That’s what Jesus was pointing to when He said things like, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27–28). It doesn’t only matter what we say or do, it even matters what we think. We’re guilty even if we never follow through.

So, you’re on the same slippery slope as the most evil people, maybe just not as far down the slope. You, too, are something of a monster.

For that reason, if anyone supposes he’s morally superior to someone else, it’s like one rotten apple supposing itself to be less moldy than another. We could say to that apple: maybe so, but you’re still inedible.

Why I Said Something

“We’re all corrupt in some way,” I said. “We gotta work it out. We need Jesus.”

One of the first steps in understanding the gospel is understanding our depravity. You won’t seek to be saved unless you believe there’s something you need to be saved from. Self-righteousness robs us of that. When someone appraises his moral condition to be better than it is, he closes himself off to the gospel.

So, when I noticed that the attendant at the grocery store may have been doing that, it seemed like an opportunity, if not for a complete gospel presentation, for at least a bit of gospel content. I hoped to gently nudge her in the direction of acknowledging that even those of us who never shoplift are messed up enough as it is.

Maybe I planted a seed. God knows.

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Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.